Shiny happy people

So after an adjustment phase with my new spray gun, I think we've come to understand each other.

I like seeing reflections, even better when they are undistorted! The tape sorta shows where nonskid will go, and having those areas where I don't need to paint actually makes the ergonomics of painting the boat a whole lot easier- I could get in and look at the cockpit sides as the paint went on instead of spraying backwards, for instance. The little things...

Blocked.

After the first two coats, things weren't looking good so I did a mulligan.

While waiting for paint to arrive, I finished off the boom. Cut the ends, cut in outhaul exit sheaves, and gave it a coat of clear epoxy.

I came in at 6.7 pounds, so 1.2 pounds heavier than C-Tech's boom. Rats!

I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of keel deflection I get when the boat is laid over 90 degrees. This is the highest load the keel sees, although this static test doesn't account for waves/bouncing, or a crew person climbing on to right the boat.

So, too much deflection? Let's just say I'll be trying hard to keep away from 90 degrees for a while, and maybe getting started on MkII this winter. I have a snazzy beaver tailed bulb mold to try out...

Making little widgets to fill in the odd few minutes. Too hard to explain what this does, so I'll wait till later when it's installed and then a picture will suffice.

Next up is one more coat of white on the deck (fingers crossed it comes out as well as this morning's), then I can start on the green part, and installing hardware on the white bits. I just received a big ol box of cleats and blocks, and I have a bunch of nuts and screws coming tomorrow. Looking forward to that process, even if it means spending some quality time in the nether regions of the boat's interior.

Upright again

Having had enough of sanding and painting the bottom, it's time to get started on the other side. So I rolled the boat outside, reattached the rollover cradle and now she sits upright on the trailer bunks. Some not-so-great camera phone pics...

So the current plan is to do a paint scheme about like this:

...which is why the boat is all white now. After the deck gets its coat of white paint, I'll do the green stuff over the top.

I didn't have as much time when I did this before, so I put the mast up again and spent a couple days getting all the standing rigging right. I have a couple little issues (!) to sort, but I'm 90% closer to happy with the rig now. I think I'm happy with the mast bend, and sent off those numbers to the sailmaker. My sails are paid for now, just a matter of getting them built, and having a boat to put under them when they're done!

Blew out a flip flop!

In testing the rig rotation, I let it over-rotate and the hinge pin did the damage shown above. I deliberately made this laminate a lot thinner than the corresponding part on the mast, to keep the failure(s) where they do least overall harm. I've since fit the mast rotator arm (from Ben's old catamaran scrap bin so thanks, Ben!) so it can't over-rotate again, and fixed the spreader. I may need a universal joint here instead though, to allow the spreader to better cope with the variable up-down angle as the mast hinge rotates. More fun to come in the composites shop...

Forestay adjuster works great, now that I have the lines sorted. I really like the hardware free, clean look.

The boat is back inside now. I need to drill-fill-drill for a few more bits of hardware, do a couple light rounds of putty-sand-putty-sand, and then spray some paint. Getting closer!

Except the obvious, Mrs Lincoln...

...how did you enjoy the play?

Other than sanding, I've enjoyed making progress on a few items:

Making some eyestraps, step one.

Eyestraps cut out and glued to the keel fairing plate.

These are to hold bungie cord ends, to keep the plate up tight to the hull bottom as the keel pivots, or is raised and lowered.

Keel fairing plate in position. This is also the second coat of primer which I tinted light grey by adding a few scoops of graphite powder. Not a great idea- the primer did turn light grey, but a significant amount of the powder didn't dissolve/incorporate into the primer and came out of the gun as little black patches. Oh, well- it just looks goofy, no harm.

Made the jig (it's in the 2nd pic above) and cut out the jibing wedges for the keel. There are two coupling nuts that are now buried/bonded in the keel so I can just screw the plastic wedges on from outside.

So the hull bottom is just about as perfect as I can get it, so it'll get painted in another day or two. And I've had a different idea for the topsides paint scheme, so that will emerge in a few days as well.

Sanding fool

Yeah, still at it. Work and some other distractions have kept me away from the boat over the last few weeks, but I've squeezed in a few sanding sessions. Another coat of primer coming shortly...

...but I won't be using this compressor! All the parts are replaceable, except the big one on the end of the motor. Looks like a shopping opportunity coming up.

Putty, longboard, putty, longboard. I've done the whole boat maybe three times, and some spots a few more than that. I'll see what another primer coat looks like, then get the VC Performance Epoxy bottom paint on.

I'm undecided about the sheer- whether to take the topsides paint up and over, or to let the deck paint roll over the edge. I'm leaning toward the latter, thinking it will make the boat look lower and less boxy?

The longboard doesn't lie...

...but man, you wish the darn thing would give the bad news more gently!

I did the first round of wet sanding today, with a 36' longboard loaded with 120 grit paper, just doing the hull bottom and chines. As you can see, I found lots of little (most are very little) low spots. I will say that compared to other option, I love wet sanding! No dust mask, no dust, and very little mess. One downside I found though was hydroplaning knees- while up on the boat sanding away I put my knee on a wet spot with lots of slurry mixed in, and my knee slipped off the edge and I did a bellyflop on the boat. Good times!

To back up a little, and explain that big black hole in the middle...

A few days ago I took a splash of the keel slot area- just laid up some carbon scraps over the hull where the slot will be. That done, I routed out the slot and a recess all around it, and ground a taper into the hull laminate all around that. This is to receive some the trunk reinforcement that is in place in the top pic above, shown after sanding it flush and slopping some filler over it.

This is the splash, getting tabbed to a mini keel sleeve. Once trimmed, it'll be a fairing plate to cover the big rectangular hole in the bottom of the boat. It will be able to slide on the hull bottom as the keel jibes, too.

But it's all (white) now...

I'm no jumping jack flash after spending the morning with a respirator on my face in 95 degree temps, but the first round of primer is on the boat.

I laid it on heaviest on the bottom, but along the hull sides it's more like just a thorough dusting. I imagine 75% will get sanded away, which I'm so looking forward to!

More epoxy arrived today, so a few backlogged items will need to get done right away. I have the cloth for the keel exit fairing all cut out and waiting layup on the hull bottom. Then I can then cut out the keel hole in the bottom of the boat. I also got some more uni, so I want to add a layer to my rudder so it can be included in the next primer session.

B(oat)-B-Q

First, putting a hole in the bow, adding a tube of glass (it'll be cut flush after gluing), and some G10 discs. The bobstay will get spliced through the hole.

And the boat cooker. I have a temp probe under the black plastic, and two fans running inside to try to keep the temps even throughout, and I have a timer running at my desk so I remember to go check on it every hour. It had climbed to 118 last I looked, and I want to get it to around 130 to 135 and hold that for a couple hours.